Microwave baby killer mom arrested, jailed without bail

A 29-year-old Californian mother was arrested on Tuesday and has been accused of roasting her 6-week-old baby girl alive in a microwave oven.

Mirabelle Thao-Lo, the poor baby girl, died on March 17. Her mother Ka Yang told the police that the baby died from a seizure.

However, the authority discovered that the baby suffered form extensive thermal injuries, which is very unique. She suffered serious fourth-degree burns on her face, but her clothes and hair weren't damaged at all.

The investigators spent about three months on the case and consulted with several medical professionals, forensic specialists, and government agencies.

They found that the injuries are similar with other three cases in U.S. where the parents killed their babies in microwave oven.

This is rare. The injuries were obviously very unique, Officer Laura Peck said. There have been only three other documented cases in the entire country where the injuries were consistent with this case. ... Those children were also burned and placed in the microwave.

Other babies killed in microwave oven include a 1-month old Virginia boy in 1999, a 2-month-old girl in Texas in 2007 and a 4-week old Ohio boy in 2005.

The police also found Mirabelle's pacifier in the microwave oven in Yang's kitchen. The infant's burns were so severe that the coroner cannot even confirm how long she was roasted in the microwave.

Yang also has three other kids, who are all boys under 7. The boys have now been taken into protective custody.

We wouldn't assess her mental condition. That will be up to the court system, Peck said. The bottom line is no one knows what happened in that house but her and the little baby.

Yang's neighbors said she often kept to herself. She never opened the door, Margarita Layva told the Sacramento Bee. She never came out.

Yang has been now incarcerated in the Sacramento County jail without bail.

Clearly, there would be a mental break that would lead to such a thing, UC Berkeley sociology Professor Martin Sanchez-Jankowski said. It all makes sense to them (the attackers), but what leads up to it you can never really know. Or at least you can never piece these things together quickly.